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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26446066">well so much for strong</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/toomanyhometowns/pseuds/toomanyhometowns'>toomanyhometowns</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Red vs. Blue</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Don't copy to another site, Gen, Project Freelancer, Siblings, nothing bad is ever going to happen ok</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2014-08-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2014-08-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:49:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>697</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26446066</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/toomanyhometowns/pseuds/toomanyhometowns</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>kiwoa asked:<br/>Okay, but if North and South aren't twins and lied on their paperwork, whose birthday do they use? It's South's, isn't it? I bet North pretends like it bothers him just so South can feel like she won a battle, when in reality, it was always going to be hers.</p>
<p>[in which there is no earthly way North would just let her have the birthday without pulling it over her head once in a while]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Agent North Dakota &amp; Agent South Dakota (Red vs. Blue)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>tumblrfic exodus</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>well so much for strong</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinoa/gifts">Rinoa</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>We're at the time of Quar where I upload fic from plural years ago... Title from Kathryn Calder's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcTvUynMc7o">Castor and Pollux</a>, lyrics <a href="https://genius.com/Kathryn-calder-castor-and-pollux-lyrics">here</a>.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>North is tall enough to peer into South’s rack without having to first step up onto the edge of Utah’s. (His height is part of a long list of injustices that South sometimes runs through in her mind to soothe herself to sleep with comfortable pettiness.)</p>
<p>It’s an off-day, and South’s not in the infirmary and neither is anyone she gives a shit about, so she’s in her bunk listening to terrible holo-dramas and drawing the lead actors naked—what, it’s a hobby.</p>
<p>She wriggles a foot in a friendly way when she hears North come in. She hears him smile back. He drapes his arms on the metal edge of her rack and leans his chin on top of them.</p>
<p>“Hey kiddo, how’s it going?” And that, <em>that</em> is the voice he used when he wanted South to cover for him on Monday morning <em>just this once, no really.</em></p>
<p>South lifts her head up from the mound of clothes she’d been using as a pillow to level a suspicious stare his way. “Things are going good, but it sounds like you’re gonna change that.”</p>
<p>North smiles winningly, spreads his arms a few inches further apart to block off more of her exit. “They’re looking for people for KP,” he says.</p>
<p>“Nope,” South says, and flops back down on her clothing-pillow. “Did a shift last week. I still smell like that weird synthesized tomato paste, I’m not going back any time soon.” She changes her grip on her pencil and carefully adds some shading to give Houston’s penis a bit of three-dimensionality.</p>
<p>There’s a certain creeping feeling on her neck that she associates with North trying to be subverbally charming. She’s immune, obviously, but still <em>aware</em>.</p>
<p>“Not gonna happen,” she sing-songs, and turns up the volume on her holo-drama. Bettina’s just about to discover Houston’s affair, and South is hoping somebody gets stabbed.</p>
<p>North sighs. “I’m coming up in the rotation and it’s just…”</p>
<p>“Tough luck, <em>kiddo</em>.” She pointedly doodles a knife coming towards Houston’s junk.</p>
<p>North scrubs a hand through his hair. “You gonna date that when you sign it?” he asks.</p>
<p>South starts to say, “Sure,” but before the word has curled its way out of her mouth, she’s already putting it together. “Oh fuck.”</p>
<p>"What, you forgot to get me a card?” North asks, and now she looks at him, sees the twist to his smile and his stupid sad eyes.</p>
<p>She glowers, but she can feel resignation sneaking in. “Fuck you,” she says, but she’s already flipping back in her sketchbook to something she drew three months ago, when she was full of cake and feeling purple and green. She rips the paper out. It has a crooked edge, but she folds it in half and it’s not so noticeable now.</p>
<p>The bunk’s far too small to fit both of them, but it doesn’t stop North from levering himself up, swinging himself over the bar, and resting his head next to hers on the clothing-pillow. His legs are too long for South’s bunk, especially since the pillow isn’t all the way at the head of the bed.</p>
<p>“Thanks, sis,” he says, voice thick with satisfaction.</p>
<p>“Take a walk out the airlock,” she says, and makes sure to jam her knees into the bruise on his thigh as she clambers out. (She steers her elbows clear of his broken ribs, though.)</p>
<p>“You’re the best,” North says, crossing his arms under his head.</p>
<p>“Yeah, tell me about it.” South fishes a sports bra from the clothing pile, tugs it on underneath her shirt, and adjusts her boobs. She’s not exactly going to be dressed to regulation, but they can send their complaints to her purple fucking hair, okay? “No, I meant that, tell me how awesome I am.”</p>
<p>North changes the holovid channel, interrupting Bettina’s incensed hand-waving in favour of some talking head recapping Grifball. “I guess you’re not bad,” he concedes, and the lack of enthusiasm forces South to give him a quick snake bite on his forearm before heading out the door.</p>
<p>She leaves the sketch from three months ago folded on top of her sketchbook. He’ll find it, she’s sure he will.</p>
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